Reasons and consequences of transforming a village to the city from the villagers perspective with focus on social and identical structure (Case Study Qaleh Now city)

The transformation of villages into cities has many visible and hidden consequences, such as the change of the physical structure, the increase of the cost of living and the deterioration of the cohesion of the local community. The aim of this article is to study the sociology of the main reasons for the transformation of the village into a city and its effects and consequences with special attention to the social and identity dimensions of the villagers. For this reason, Qala-e-Naw city was selected as the field of study from the functions of Rey city in Tehran province, which has been transformed from a village to a city for several years.

The research method was qualitative and based on grounded theory. Using random sampling among Qala-e-Naw and Snowball residents (experts and professionals), in-depth interviews were conducted until theoretical saturation was reached, which finally included 20 interviews.

The data analysis identified three main categories of goals from the transformation from rural to urban, changes after urbanization, and the negative consequences on social structure and identity, which according to the interviews are in the first category: Physical development and creation of space for development, an urban title instead of a village, an urban budget, and the improvement of urban services in the second category; The lack of tangible changes, the opening of agencies and offices, the increase in the cost of living, the increase in urban fees, the change in the local context, the increase in construction activity and the increase in land prices, the improvement of urban services and economic growth and prosperity and in the third category: The lack of direct awareness and information, the impact on spatial identification and sense of belonging, the lack of active participation, the lack of a sense of ownership, and the lack of self-governance and self-management were extracted.

The results show that the most important reasons for converting a village into a city in the eyes of rural residents are to have more and more urban services and benefits. However, the transformation of a village into a city also has unintended consequences, such as changes in the local environment with direct impacts on rural economic activities, such as livestock and agriculture, the influx of foreigners, and higher living costs, especially for housing. The transformation of the village into a city also has negative consequences in social and identity terms, such as the reduction of the sense of belonging to the space.